by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

by David Leon Moore, USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES â?? The whole game (against Notre Dame), the whole month (of November) and the whole season (of 2012) pretty much added up to a nightmare for Lane Kiffin and the Southern California Trojans.

But the last five minutes of the Trojans' 22-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night â?? precisely, a three-minute, 17-second stretch late in the fourth quarter that will seem like an eternity in the 7-5 Trojans' offseason of discontent â?? was an especially horrible sequence of events.

Call it bad clock management.

Call it lack of execution.

Call it bad play-calling.

Call it all of the above, probably.

The sequence started promisingly enough, with a 53-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Max Wittek, subbing for injured Matt Barkley, to Marqise Lee for a first-and-goal at the Notre Dame 2 with a little less than six minutes to play.

Time for a quick TD, a defensive stop and then a chance at a game-winning field goal, right?

Not so fast.

A false start penalty started the drive. Then a 3-yard run. Then, on two consecutive plays, the Fighting Irish were called for pass interference in the end zone.

That's when the USC follies truly began. On first down from the 1, Wittek plunged into the line for no gain, and the clock continued to run. Again, Wittek was sent into the line. Again, no gain.

Suddenly, the clock was ticking down toward 3:00 and the Trojans still hadn't scored. At this point, Kiffin called timeout.

On third-and-1, Wittek handed off to Curtis McNeal, and the 5-7, 190-pounder was stopped for no gain.

Again the clock continued to run, with Kiffin hanging on to his last timeout.